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What treatment to have

User
Posted 14 Jun 2017 at 13:59

Hello

My husband has recently been diagnosed with aggressive localised prostate cancer. He has to have treatment either surgery or hormone treatment/radio therapy. He initially did not want to go the surgery route and has been on HT for 4 months. However he has changed personality completely, become very emotional, very fatigued and depressed. We are not sure if we can take the whole course of HT over a long period of time i.e. 2 years and are wondering if the surgery route may be better. Would appreciate hearing from anyone who had the same decision to make. From the side effects of both its like tossing a coin.

 

User
Posted 14 Jun 2017 at 16:17

Hello Rambo and welcome to the site.

I can only reply as far as welcoming you since we didn't have to go your route.

As far as I know, the HT will have shrunk the prostate so at least if he goes the surgery route he will have the advantage of the surgeon having something smaller to deal with. I hope a more experienced person can confirm that for you.

The HT will have the effect that you describe and again, I believe that these effects eventually go once the HT is finished, though it does take time.

Tossing a coin? Yep, that is what any of the treatments are like. We went the brachytherapy route because ours wasn't aggressive but - was it the right route for us? Only time will tell.

You can only do the best you can.

If you go to publications on this site you can download The Toolkit which has information on all aspects of PC.
there are also the nurses on this site.

Good luck to you both.

We can't control the winds - but we can adjust our sails
User
Posted 14 Jun 2017 at 17:10

Always a difficult one as what one man may feel is right for him another will prefer an alternative for a number of reasons. It should also be borne in mind that in some cases HT/RT can eradicate cancer that cannot be removed by the knife due to it's particular location. It often happens that where this applies men who have opted for surgery find that this in itself does not do the job and that HT/RT has to follow. The cumulative side effects of both treatments may then have to be faced. It might be worth discussing with the surgeon to see if he feels he can remove all the cancer before changing treatment.

Barry
User
Posted 14 Jun 2017 at 18:45

As my profile shows I was on hormone therapy for many years. The side effects started to lessen after 6 months so it might be worth you hanging on. Perhaps you could seek help with his current low mood. When your husband reaches radiotherapy stage he might perk up as you feel you're taking more of an active part in getting rid of the cancer.

Some surgeons are not keen to operate whilst on HT as it makes nerve sparring more difficult. Hence the higher risk of incontinence and impotency, although your husband probably has the latter already.

Ray

 
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